Lavoie reports the NHL “wants to make sure what goes on in the NFL won’t happen in hockey” — an allusion to the Jonathan Martin-Richie Incognito controversy in Miami, where Incognito is being accused of spearheading a “culture of harassment” in the Dolphins’ dressing room, with Martin being the primary target.

Regardless of opinions on the Miami situation or the notion of bullying being an issue in the NHL, the league is probably doing the wise thing in getting out in front of any would-be issue. (Remember, we’re not that far removed from the Dustin Brown-Sean Avery relationship being described as “bullying” by former teammate Ian Laperriere.)

What’s going on in the NFL right now is ugly, so trying to avoid any potential ugliness with a preemptive strike makes sense.

Regarding the NHL GM meetings, it’ll be curious to see if the topic extends to rookie dinners. An annual rite of passage practiced by a number of professional teams, the rookie dinner — one where the veterans dine, usually at an expensive restaurant, on the first-year players’ dimes — has also come under scrutiny in the Dolphins saga.

The [Miami] rookies were stuck with a $30,000 bill during a recent team dinner. Veteran defensive end Jared Odrick tweeted about the incident, showing off a picture of the team at dinner and even following it up by noting how expensive the bill was. “Yes that bill would make you sick,” Odrick tweeted out later. He’s since deleted the Tweet from his account.

Rookie safety Will Davis, who makes $405,000 this season, confirmed the report soon thereafter with a tweet of his own.

It’s not uncommon for veterans to have a bit of fun at the rookies’ expense. Many teams will have rookies pick up the bill on a big meal or a similar outing, but while $30,000 might be chump change to vested veterans, it’s a lot of money for rookies who likely are only making somewhere in the $400,000 to $1 million range.

To be fair, the NHL does not appear to have any similar issues regarding its rookie dinners. In the wake of the Miami situation, Fox Sports Florida asked former Panthers head coach Kevin Dineen about the evolution of these meals.

“Traditions have changed over the years since I was a rookie,” Dineen said. “There were things (then) that probably are not acceptable these days. That’s just the evolution of sports in general. It can be looked at a lot of different ways.

“I think it’s gotten to the point with the maturity of leadership in the NHL that instead of turning this into a ‘We’re going to get these guys,’ it has turned into, ‘Let’s turn this into a really nice evening.’ “